


The Missing Piece

by sultrysweet



Series: Swan Queen Week (Winter 2015) [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Romance, Swan Queen Week, Swan Queen Week 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 12:29:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3249743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sultrysweet/pseuds/sultrysweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back from the Enchanted Forest, Regina goes to New York to be with Henry and Emma and she gets more than she expected out of her relocation. / Swan Queen Week January 2015, Day 4: Canon Divergence</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know this has been done a few times before, but I've been dying to write out the idea of Regina coming to NY at the start of season 3B for a while now. Hopefully I do it some justice. Also, this was going to be a lengthy oneshot, but I figured it would be easier to digest if I broke it up into parts.

It’s there at the spray painted town line that Emma loses and gains everything in a single moment. Pan’s curse is upon them and with only one escape plan that will work and save them all, goodbyes have to be said.

Henry’s embraced by both of his grandparents while they hug him for what is probably the last time ever, and Emma’s already said all of her goodbyes. Expect she hasn’t.

Regina waits until the one handed pirate has said what he needs to say and when Emma starts to head for that ridiculous but beautiful yellow Bug, Regina walks over to her. The blonde only makes it a few steps before Regina gently calls her name.

Emma turns and things suddenly get a lot more emotional than either none of them predicted.

“Storybrooke will no longer exist. It won’t ever have existed. So these last years will be gone from both your memories…and we just go back to being stories again,” Regina tells her with sad eyes and downturned lips.

“What will happen to us,” Emma asks as she’s hit with not only the wind but a chill brought on by the information she now processes.

“I don’t know,” Regina honestly admits.

“Doesn’t sound much like a happy ending.”

Regina mirthlessly laughs, a sad laugh that conveys she agrees how unfair all of this is.

“It’s not,” Regina tells her. “But I can give you one.”

“You can preserve our memories?” Emma looks hopeful, her voice muddled only slightly by the tears building in her eyes.

“No, I can…do what I did to every else in this town…and give you new ones.”

“You cursed them and they were miserable,” Emma points out, upset and disbelieving that Regina thinks that would be a happy ending of any kind.

“They didn’t have to be,” Regina smiles, a little awkwardly, but she seems amused by Emma challenging her.

After all, this is the last time they’ll be able to stand toe to toe like this. Why not enjoy all the different ways they’ve interacted since Emma came to Storybrooke—including the ways they learned to better interact because of the trigger and Neverland—in a single, heartfelt farewell.

Regina reaches out and takes Emma’s hand in both of hers. The blonde is a little surprised, but Regina moves forward with what she has to say. They’ve never touched like this and it’s a delicate and caring gesture, one Emma’s never received from or given to Regina, but it feels right to Regina so she’s doing it.

“My gift to you is god memories, a good life for you…” Regina looks over her shoulder and waves Henry over to them, “and Henry. You’ll have never given him up.”

Emma can’t help the tears that fall then. She’s taking weak and stunted breaths that sound like little gasps when she inhales and wavering sighs when she exhales.

“You’ll have always been together,” Regina starts to cry and her words are clipped by her choked back sobs.

“You would do that,” Emma breaths out with so much hope and…maybe something else when she stares right at Regina.

“When you cross that town line and escape Pan’s curse, you’ll have the life you always wanted.”

“But it won’t be real.”

“Well, your past won’t, but your future will.”

Regina tells them to go. There isn’t much time and the thing that matters most now is Emma and Henry’s safety. The thick plumes of green smoke loom toward them in the distance and the pain they all feel now won’t get any easier to handle the longer they stay on this side of the town line.

Emma wants to say thank you, wants to do something—anything—while she watches Henry hug Regina goodbye. She’ll get what she’s always wanted and she’ll be happy and she’ll have Henry, but as she sees what has to be sacrificed to get it she no longer wants it. It isn’t supposed to happen like this and she has her parents now and Henry isn’t just hers and why is Regina’s goodbye more painful for Emma than anyone else’s?

 _I’m sorry_ , Emma thinks when she looks from Henry to Regina as the two of them pull out of their hug.

Because Emma knows, she remembers, a moment when Regina confesses “Henry is all I have” and “he’s everything” and now Emma sees the sacrifice clearly. It’s not just what Emma has to give up: her parents, her ex, her pirate. It’s what Regina is giving up, giving _her_.

Henry is Regina’s world and he’s been the one thing that’s made the brunette more hero than villain in recent months. So maybe he’s not just her world but her heart too, and she’s giving that to Emma. It’s her gift to Emma, wrapped up nicely with good memories and the promise of a life Emma has constantly claimed to prefer to living in a fantasy town and on the run from monsters every other week, monsters she’s always thought were fictional.

The green smoke roars and rolls nearer.

Emma’s hugged and kissed by her parents and then she and Henry get in the car.

Regina breaks the scroll and shoots purple magic into the air while the Bug drives off. Purple smoke is formed and it engulfs the town to counteract Pan’s curse. She watches everything she loves leave town, leave her, all the while Emma and Henry look back in her direction for as long as they can.

From their place in the car, they can’t see a town. They see a long road that goes on and on where secrets unknown to the rest of this world reside. But _they_ know what’s there, what won’t be there much longer.

* * *

Oranges and yellows from the street lights paint the roads and give tables and faces in the restaurant an almost golden glow while nightlife in New York rumbles on into the later hours of the evening. Emma’s in a black, leather dress that hugs every inch of her and she’s free from her latest case now that she’s caught the guy and collected the money for bringing him in.

She leaves her coat with a man that greets her at the entrance of the outside dining area for the restaurant she’s at and smiles when she sees her date already seated at a table with a lamp shaped like a large, budding rose for a centerpiece. She struts over to the table for two and takes her seat while the man with her coat places it on the back of her chair for her.

“Thank you,” she says to the host, and the man nods with a smile in response.

Emma scoots her chair closer to the table and she beams at the man seated across from her. It’s his first night off in a month and they’ve hardly spent any time together in over five weeks. He’s been her boyfriend for the last four months and though she’s someone that values space, she’s missed him. She even tells him as much when he takes her hand over the table and a waiter stops by to fill their wine glasses with a highly recommended bottle of red.

He has dark hair and brown eyes, his facial features a little soft around the edges, and he likes Henry more than any guy Emma’s ever dated. Henry likes him too, which is really good because their whole relationship revolves around whether he and Henry can get along, and all three of them know it. It’s never been a problem for as long as Gavin’s been around and that makes everything easier.

Her last boyfriend Walsh was only in the picture for a couple months, but he did get along with Henry and Henry liked him enough. It just didn’t feel right. There was always something missing between them, like a spark. They sometimes finished each other’s sentences and they both loved a lot of the same things, but there was no real chemistry there. She called it quits and he wouldn’t let it go for some reason. He started stalking her and she didn’t even have to bother with a restraining order when she called the cops one night when he’d been belligerent with her while she was coming home from a movie with Henry. That’s when Gavin came into the picture.

Gavin was one of the officers that showed up and he punched Walsh when the guy tried to reach around the two cops that stood between him and Emma. Gavin gave her his business card and told her to call anytime, but he wasn’t cheesy enough to write his cell number on the back. Even with only his office number, though, Emma found a reason to call him and after three weeks they officially started dating.

It was almost like a modern day fairy tale about a princess falling for a gallant white knight. Until Gavin opens his mouth about fairy tales and then Emma has to disagree with him, but in a cute couple-y kind of way that Henry gags and rolls his eyes at whenever he’s around to hear.

Emma invites Gavin back to her apartment after their date and since Henry’s inside playing video games, they just sit and talk on the couch.

Henry’s sketch book sits on the coffee table next to the second controller. It’s filled with pictures of fantasy characters and an unnamed town that Henry’s been developing for the last nine months. Emma calls it his baby and she always asks how much closer he is to his due date because it’s been nine months and the kid’s worked hard on the sketches inside and yet he’s never told her when the story will be finished.

As he sits next to Emma on the couch with his eyes focused on his game, Gavin reaches over and picks up the sketches. He sits back and rests it in his lap while Emma takes the second controller and bugs Henry to let her play the game with him. Gavin, sitting on Emma’s other side, starts to flip through the book and finds the last place in the book he last saw. He reads through the next few pages that he doesn’t recall seeing before and starts to chuckle.

“You’re still favoring the Evil Queen, I see,” Gavin says and flips through another page.

“Yeah,” Henry answers, though most of his attention is on the game that he’s finally let Emma in on.

“I think it’s cool how you rewrite this stuff because it’s genius how you toy with the original stories and give them more meaning, but I’ve got to say you’re taking a lot of creativity. The Evil Queen was not this attractive.”

“Who says,” Henry asks.

“Uh, everyone knows witches are ugly. Harnessing their magic for evil destroys them, which is why they’ve always got these warts and things,” Gavin explains.

“And you studied the many different kinds of witchcraft to know that’s actually a fact while you were busy training at the police academy,” Henry challengingly asks.

Emma laughs.

“He’s got a point,” she says.

“It’s in the movie,” Gavin argues. “She’s after Snow White because the princess is the fairest in all the land and the Evil Queen wants that to be her new title instead.”

“I’m not saying Disney or the Grimm Brothers got it wrong,” Henry says. “I’m just tweaking the stories to be more…realistic and…up with the times.”

“The Evil Queen being drop dead gorgeous and having a kid she adopted from Snow White’s daughter without knowing it is more realistic?”

Henry shrugs.

“ _That’s_ where I took some creative liberties,” he casually defends himself.

“I think it makes more sense than to have a woman use magic against a girl just because she covets beauty,” Emma pipes up. “That’s, like, belittling every argument women have with each other by making it seem like a woman would only target a girl or another woman over vain stuff like looks and boyfriends. At least the kid writes a compelling story about two women fighting over their kid.”

“But that’s not a fairy tale.”

“I said more realistic,” Henry flatly repeats, still focused on his game. “But it could be a fairy tale. It’s just that no one’s really bothered to write it as one before.”

“The story isn’t even really about magic or curses,” Gavin continues. “If you really look at it, it’s about two women who both think they’re entitled to keep the kid. The rest of the stuff that happens just adds to the birth mother’s suspicions and the kid’s accusations that his adoptive mother actually is the Evil Queen.”

“I think he’s got a book series in the making,” Emma says. “My son, and up and coming bestselling author. Anyway, why do you always argue about this so much? Fairy tales aren’t even real.”

“You don’t believe in finding Prince Charming or happily ever after,” Gavin asks while Emma’s attention matches Henry’s, both sucked into the game but still able to answer him.

“Happily ever after is just the romanticized ending to a story that gives us hope and something to look forward to, something we hope will happen to us so when our time comes we can look back at our lives and determine whether or not it was all worth it,” Emma replies and then takes one of the opposing computer characters down in the game.

She satisfyingly hisses and exclaims with glee about her victory then gets back to more takedowns.

“Alright, alright,” Gavin agrees with a smile and a hint of a laugh. “You win. And Henry, it really is great stuff you’ve got here.”

“Thanks,” Henry says, and then Emma wraps an arm around his shoulder and ruffles his hair in the middle of the game.

Henry groans and wiggles his way out of her embrace then quickly brushes a hand through his hair from back to front to tame it with minimal effort while his head is still in the video game.

The night ends with no hard feelings and a kiss on the lips that Henry thankfully doesn’t see because it’s not exactly polite or chaste. Once Gavin’s in the hall and the door is shut, Henry wanders back out to the kitchen and Emma goes to grab his sketch book that Gavin returned to the coffee table before they all removed themselves from the couch. She opens it and glances at the pictures from the beginning to most recent.

“Still haven’t come up with details in their faces, huh,” Emma asks more like a statement.

The only person that has a descriptive appearance is the Savior who looks a lot like her and Emma knows it’s because Henry made himself the inspiration for the boy the two women fight _over_ and fight _for_ in his retelling of popular fairy tales.

“In my dreams they don’t really give me a lot to go off of. I just know the Evil Queen has dark hair that she lets grow out later.”

“You say it like your dreams are memories, like it’s a real story.”

“It feels pretty real,” Henry says. “More real now than it’s ever felt.”

“Well, I’m glad that you at least have an open mind.”

Henry furrows his brow.

“What do you mean,” he asks.

“Telling a story about a kid with two moms.”

“I might have you to thank for that,” Henry smirks.

“Oh, shut up. I dated one woman. One.”

“For four months! And she practically lived with us for three of them.”

“She was a great girlfriend and you loved her,” Emma says.

“She spoke Spanish and you swooned.”

“Okay, so she was a great girlfriend and I have a weakness for Spanish speakers.”

“Then how come you only date white guys?”

“Because it’s… Okay, I have a weakness for Latina women and speaking Spanish is a lovely bonus,” Emma corrects. “If I got into all the reasons why, you’d be thoroughly scarred for this life and the next.”

“Ew.”

“Exactly. So this conversation is over.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. I wasn’t adopted.”

“But it’s nice that you can write from that kind of perspective. There are plenty of stories, real stories about real people, about kids with two moms or two dads. And about kids who have a mom and a dad but aren’t biologically related.”

“Yeah, but the Evil Queen and the Savior aren’t together in my story.”

“Not yet,” Emma smiles.

“What?”

“Oh come on, Kid. It’s obvious they’re gonna get together at some point. That is your plan, right?”

“It…it isn’t.”

“Really? Because the Queen and the Savior seem to have a lot going on.”

“What?! No. Ew! What?”

“What do you mean ‘ew’? Two women can’t fall in love?”

“They can. That’s not what’s weird about it.”

“Then what is?”

“It’s just… They aren’t… They’re just two women who share a son. It’s innocent.”

“So why bother writing about how the Savior uses magic with the Queen and it stops destructive diamonds and eclipses the moon? Or how about when the Savior saves the Queen from the angry mob or when the Savior invites the Queen to dinner when no one else did because she believes in her? Or when the Queen and the Savior look at each other after the Queen says goodbye to her son right before she tries to hold off the diamond’s power long enough for everyone to get to safety? And that’s not the first time they’ve looked at each other like that.”

“I just… I don’t know. They care about each other! They don’t…love each other. They can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because they aren’t there yet.”

Emma grins.

“You said yet.”

“Well,” Henry puffs out a sigh, “maybe one of them starts seeing things differently and then something happens.”

“Something like…?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t dreamed about it yet.”

“Are your dreams in the same order as the book?”

“Kind of. Sometimes there are bits and pieces of later moments when I was still piecing together how the Savior met the Queen when they were just Anna and the mayor.”

“The Savior looks like me and you named her Anna?”

“I couldn’t just name one of the main characters in my story after my mom,” Henry scrunches up his face like she should have already understood that.

“Right, because that would be ridiculous.”

Henry snatches his sketch book out of Emma’s hands and she chuckles.

* * *

At eight fifteen the next morning, her alarm goes off right on schedule. She gets up and goes through her regular morning routine of waking Henry then starting breakfast. He waters the plants and then they sit and eat at the kitchen table while they listen to one of several playlists on Emma’s phone. The music is turned down so it’s more like background noise and it gives them the chance to talk, but fills the silence when they’re busy eating or when they run out of things to say.

They clink their mugs of matching hot cocoa with cinnamon and suddenly there’s a knock on the door.

“You expecting anyone,” Emma asks as she stands.

“No. You think it’s Gavin,” Henry replies with a question while Emma passes him to get to the door. “Maybe he’s here to surprise you.”

It’s a surprise, alright. It’s just not Gavin.

Emma opens the door and on the other side stands a striking brunette with hair that curls at her shoulders. She has olive skin and chocolate brown eyes and for some reason there’s a small sense of familiarity festering inside Emma at the sight of her.

“Mom, who is it,” Henry calls out.

The other woman stands out in the hall completely shell-shocked with her lips parted and her eyes filled with disbelief and awe. The longer Emma stares at her, the more familiar the brunette feels, but then she remembers what she and Henry talked about the previous night.

Emma grins and looks over her shoulder to address Henry.

“Like you don’t know,” she says.

“What do you mean,” Henry asks and walks up to the door. “Who is she?”

“Nice going, but I can tell when you’re lying, remember? You must have called someone.”

“What are you talking about,” Henry looks genuinely confused, but Emma’s still not buying it.

“Did you tell Gavin about my thing for Latinas like we talked about last night? And now he got a friend to show up just to tease me.”

“Mom, I haven’t talked to Gavin since he was over last night and I seriously don’t know who this is.”

Emma looks from Henry to the other woman with the brunette’s mouth still agape. She’s more embarrassed than anything and she flashes the brunette a smile while her cheeks start turning red.

The woman on the other side of the door shakes herself out of whatever trance she’s been in and smiles back.

“Hi,” she greets. “I’m Regina.”

“Hi,” Emma responds. “I’m Emma. This is my son Henry and I’m so sorry about all of that.”

“Oh,” Regina shakes her head, “don’t worry about it.”

Emma nods and breaths out a small laugh.

Regina stares at Emma a little too long with such expressive eyes and then acknowledges Henry. For a moment, it looks like Regina’s about to cry, but she blinks and then looks at Emma like a normal person.

“I hate to bother you,” Regina says, “but I just moved in down the hall and I was about to make breakfast when I realized I don’t have a lot of groceries. I was wondering if I could borrow some supplies or if you could maybe point me to the closest store?”

“So we’re neighbors,” is Emma’s only reply and Regina nods. “Cool. Um, and you need to know where the nearest store is. I take it that means you’re new to the area and not just the building, huh.”

“First time in the state, actually.”

“Oh, wow. Uh, okay. Well, I think… I mean, are you starving?”

Regina furrows her brow and shakes her head.

“I don’t…” Regina trails off, not sure how to respond.

“She gets like this sometimes,” Henry speaks up. “She thinks you’re attractive so she’s getting a little tongue-tied.”

Regina’s eyes pop almost completely out of her skull.

“Henry!” Emma exclaims.

Regina looks from Henry to Emma and her eyes return to their normal size as a wide grin spreads across her face.

“That’s…good to know, I suppose,” Regina says, her eyes focused on Emma.

“Sorry, Henry sometimes doesn’t have a filter. He also thinks it’s funny when he makes me uncomfortable.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I mean, I’m embarrassed beyond belief, but—” Emma stops herself then changes the subject. “You wanted breakfast, right?”

“Right.”

“There’s one last serving of eggs in the pan if you wouldn’t mind our leftovers. It might be faster than going to the store.”

“She asked to borrow stuff so she could make her own breakfast,” Henry chimes in.

“Ah, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Why would I offer a stranger our leftovers?” Emma nervously laughs. “What do you ned? I’ll see if I have it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind the leftovers, if the offer still stands.”

Emma smiles, grateful for the reprieve, and nods.

“Yeah, come in for a second.”

Regina steps inside and Emma closes the door before she walks ahead of the woman and Henry and heads toward the kitchen. She grabs a plastic container and uses the spatula still in the pan to scoop the rest of the eggs into it.

Henry curiously stares at Regina for a moment and Regina smiles at him.

“Thinking about something,” she asks him.

“Sorry, was I staring?”

Regina laughs and nods.

“Henry, are you bothering her,” Emma asks as she fishes out a lid for the container.

“No, he’s fine,” Regina assures.

“You look kind of…” Henry doesn’t finish his sentence and just starts staring again.

Regina looks hopeful for a moment, like Henry might know her and admit that she doesn’t have to try to find a way around the condition of her counteractive curse.

“Do you know Spanish,” Henry asks, and the hope in Regina’s eyes dulls.

She gives him a sad smile and answers, “I do.”

Henry lights up.

“This might sound really weird, but could you say something to my mom in Spanish? Like a term of endearment or affection or something.”

Regina frowns and inquires, “Why?”

“She likes it,” Henry deviously smiles up at Regina. “I want to see how she reacts.”

Regina grins and waits until Emma walks back toward them before she replies, “That’s just cruel, _mijito_.”

Emma freezes in place a few steps away from Regina and Henry with the container in hand, her expression like that of a deer in headlights.

Henry’s bursting with joy and Emma licks her lips before she slowly moves to hold out the container to Regina.

“You speak…Spanish?”

“Not often,” Regina confesses.

“Uh, well, here’s the food,” Emma says, a little spaced out and all but making moon eyes at Regina.

“Thank you, _querida_ ,” Regina says as she takes the container with an alluringly evil smirk.

“Sweet Jesus,” Emma exhales.

Henry laughs and Regina looks fondly at him for a few seconds.

“If you still need directions to the store…” Emma leaves the invitation open.

“I’d like that,” Regina says and looks at Emma again.

“I’ll navigate you through the rest of the area too,” Emma offers.

Regina smiles and says, “Thank you.”

“I’ve got a free day today so whenever you’re not busy—”

“I just moved in,” Regina reiterates. “I have nothing going on today.”

“Great. Uh, I’d have Gavin watch you, but he’s at work,” Emma looks apologetically at Henry.

“No, it’s cool. I want to come. I like her,” Henry says.

Emma rolls her eyes and then playfully glares at Regina.

“You’ve made an ally in him. Do I need to be worried about you?”

Regina’s chest heaves with a silent gasp. She gives a wavering smile and replies, “Absolutely not.”

* * *

After Regina has her breakfast in Emma’s apartment—taken out of the container and placed on a plate—they walk around the area and Regina sees a small glimpse of the life she’s given Emma and Henry. It really is a good life, too. She knew it would be, but every time she hears Henry tell her about one place or another he’s truly enjoyed for some reason, she knows she made the right decision a year ago.

Her heart hurts to think they’re better off without her, especially because she’s been miserable without them. For a while she verbally sparred with Robin Hood and it made Regina feel like she had a small part of her old life back. He acted so much like Emma when the two women first met and the back and forth, though not quite the same, gave her a sense of normalcy. For a time. But it wasn’t Emma and she grew bored, tired, and felt a lack of passion between their exchanges. Honestly, she missed the irritating blonde she’d come to share a son with and pair up with in their many times of need. And that was without considering how well their magic mingled and flowed together. Robin doesn’t have that and never will.

They arrive at the park and Emma buys them lunch from a food truck, which isn’t something Regina approves, but they love it and Regina has to agree that the food is good. She’s silent as she sits with Henry and Emma and finishes the rest of their meal, but she must be too quiet because Emma calls her out on it.

“Hey, is everything okay? You haven’t really said anything about, well, anything.”

“Sorry,” Regina smiles as she apologizes. “I guess I’m just taking everything in. There’s a lot more to this city than I thought.”

Emma laughs.

“New York City is a huge city,” the blonde says. “There’s always a lot going on here so of course there’s more to it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Regina nods.

“Hey, Mom,” Henry speaks up and both women turn to him. “I think I see some friends from school, can I—”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Emma permits and Henry smiles before he runs off to a group of kids around his age. “So where did you move here from?”

“Maine. It’s a little town that’s off the map.”

Emma’s eyebrows raise with intrigue.

“No one outside of it has ever heard of it, that’s how little is it,” Regina elaborates.

“Ah. Hence the ‘off the map’ description.”

“Yes,” Regina gives a nod and then looks a little nervous and out of place. “So, you and Henry…you do a lot of things together?”

“Yeah. Sometimes he and I are like best friends,” Emma glows as she talks about him. “A lot of parents around here would balk at the idea of being friends with their kids, but I didn’t want him to grow up the way I did so I spend as much time with him as I can. The older he gets the less time he wants to spend with his mom, but when he’s willing I take him around and we make some good memories.”

Regina flashes a wavering smile shadowed with pain that Emma thankfully didn’t notice.

“Do you have any kids,” Emma asks.

Regina hesitates, caught off guard by the question, and starts to stutter a little.

“Uh, yes, but he doesn’t live with me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked, right? Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. Things are…complicated at best, but he’s safe and happy and loved and that’s all that matters.”

Emma nods.

“So we’ve gone to the store, we’ve grabbed some coffee, you’ve seen the park, what else does my new neighbor need before we call it a day?”

Regina tries to chuckle, but she can’t. She at least looks normal enough to keep Emma smiling at her. This isn’t what she’s used to, especially with Emma, but she wants to be good at this. She needs to be good at this if she expects to see Henry again.

“A friend,” Regina carefully asks.

“Well, you don’t seem like a creep, probably not one to stalk me, Henry’s already opened up to you faster than he’s opened up to anyone else I know or hang out with so…I’d say you already have two friends.”

“Then my work here today is done,” Regina jokes, though her statement is very accurate.

Emma smiles again and says, “I don’t think that’s completely true.”

Regina frowns and furrows her brow.

“You got a phone?”

Regina nods and hands it over to the blonde who accepts it with a pleased, maybe amused, expression.

Emma starts typing something into her phone and once she’s input whatever it was she typed, she makes a semi-silly face and snaps a picture. Soon after, she gives the phone back to Regina.

“Now your work is done,” Emma says.

“What did you do?”

“Gave you my number. Friends typically get each other’s number. Send me a text and I can get yours into my contacts.”

“And that picture,” Regina asks as she goes through the phone and pulls up the photo Emma took.

“You’ll probably meet a lot of people in New York, make a ton of friends or at least colleagues you’ll have listed in your phone soon enough. Do something like stick your tongue out or kiss the phone’s owner on the cheek or something and you’re more likely to be remembered.”

“How could anyone forget their first friend in a new city,” Regina rhetorically asks with a fake smile used to conceal her true feelings about being forgotten.

Emma laughs.

“Believe me when I say it’s easy to be forgotten.”

 _Oh, I believe you_ , Regina thinks as she looks at Emma and then Henry in the distance.

* * *

Emma’s nice enough to walk Regina to her door and Henry says he’s glad she stopped by today because it was one of the best Saturdays he’s had in a while. His smile and admission almost brings her to tears and she thanks both of them for making her first official day in the city special.

They say their goodbyes and Regina slowly makes her way inside her apartment, but when Emma and Henry head down the hall and don’t look back she stops herself from going any further inside, she waits in the hallway and watches the other two make it to their apartment all the while not knowing who she really is and how much she wishes there was something she could do to remind them. Although, she knows there’s a potion she can make so there is something she could do. She just doesn’t know if or when she’ll be able to follow through with it.

Once they’re in their apartment, Regina steps into hers. As soon as the door is closed and locked, Regina sets down her keys and pulls out her phone. A tear escapes her as she opens the picture Emma took and attaches it to a text message. It isn’t long after she sends it that her phone rings like she knew it would.

“She’s okay,” Snow immediately asks the second Regina answers the call.

“Yes. She and Henry are happy and healthy.”

“Oh, good. Good,” Snow sighs with relief. “How did you get her to take a picture?”

“I didn’t. She took it herself when she put her number in my phone. I never even asked.”

“You- You have her number?”

“Yes, but you and I both know I can’t give it to you.”

“She’s… You get to see Henry, you get to hear his voice. I want to do the same thing with my daughter.”

“I understand, but you’re heavily pregnant and have a town to run now. You can’t just up and leave to see her and even if you could, what lies would you tell to make sure you don’t scare her off? Seeing them, talking to them… It’s not much better than your situation.”

“I’m sure it isn’t easy, but you’re _there_.”

“And it kills me every second. They don’t remember me, _Henry_ doesn’t remember me let alone love me. I did such a great job giving them a life they can love that even if I get through to even one of them about the truth, they probably wouldn’t want to come back with me. And why would they? I’m just the woman that lives down the hall and Henry’s got friends and Emma smiles a hell of a lot more than she’s ever smiled in Storybrooke.”

They stay on the phone a little longer and Regina recounts the day she spent with Henry and Emma for Snow’s benefit. When they hang up, Regina pours herself a glass of wine she picked up at the store before Emma gave her a tour of the area. She has a few furnishings she had delivered when Storybrooke was rebuilt in the latest curse, knowing she was going to be the one to see Emma and Henry, and she has a few boxes laying around with the flaps open but nothing inside has been removed. It looks like she really did just move in and that’s because she did. Her plan was to come to New York and see them, maybe befriend Emma so she could keep seeing them without having to lurk in the shadows. She wasn’t sure—still isn’t—how long she’ll stay in New York, but she’ll put up with the pain and the lies and hopefully the occasional visits for however long she can.

She’s not sure she’ll ever be able to tell Emma and Henry the truth and she’ll never be sure if either of them will believe her given the memories Regina gifted them. She’s not sure, but maybe one day she’ll try. Maybe she’ll get them back after all. Maybe, for the first time in a long time, Regina has hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of the dialogue other than at the town line seemed familiar, it's because I hinted at a few moments from season 1.


	2. Chapter 2

A few weeks pass and Regina occasionally bumps into Emma while the blonde is on her way out. They smile and say hi and sometimes they have brief conversations about how it’s too early to be awake or about the weather or about what kind of day they predict to have. It’s all very casual and while Regina sent Emma a text so the blonde had her number, they haven’t messaged each other since.

Until today.

_Regina? It’s Henry. Borrowed my mom’s phone. She needs a favor, but doesn’t want to ask you._

Regina reads Henry’s name and she presses a hand to the place above her heart. She wasn’t expecting a text from Emma let alone Henry. Although, the text left out a lot of information so while she was surprised and happy, she was also confused. Regina doesn’t waste any more time before she sends a reply.

**What’s the favor?**

Another text comes in within the next couple of minutes.

_I’m twelve, but apparently I still need a babysitter._

**Of course you do! It’s New York City. Anyone can break in. Still not seeing why you’re texting me.**

_My mom doesn’t have a lot of friends. She’s going out with Gavin so she can’t ask him._

**Are you asking me to watch you?**

_Just for tonight. If you say no I’ll probably get stuck with Mrs. Winters. She’s the elderly lady on the floor below and she’s strict and cranky and her apartment smells funny._

Regina chuckles before she can send a response.

**Well we can’t have that. I suppose if your mother says it’s alright I don’t see why I can’t watch you.**

_Great! I’ll tell her you said yes._

She wants to correct him that she didn’t actually say yes, but her nerves get the best of her. She distracts herself with the thought that she might get more time with Henry, but it means they’ll be alone together and as far as he remembers, Emma is his only mother. It means she’ll have to change her behavior around him. When she was with him and Emma it was easier. She was able to quickly remind herself her place with the two of them because Emma was there to playfully scold him and ruffle his hair and talk about his friends and tease him about cute girls he could potentially like. Without Emma, she worries she’ll act how she always did with him: like she’s his mother.

She’s about to think of how to talk to him and what they can do together that won’t be weird for him considering the only time they hung out was when they walked around the city, but she doesn’t get far before there’s a loud, repetitive knock on her door. She’s not expecting anyone, just a text about how and when or if she’ll be looking after Henry, so when she opens the door she’s startled to see Henry and Emma.

Henry has a bag slung over his shoulder and a smile on his face. He waits less than two seconds before he walks right into Regina’s apartment and Regina wants to laugh at his boldness.

He truly is Emma’s son, she thinks, because Emma certainly has a knack for making herself comfortable even in places she doesn’t always have the right to be in.

“Henry,” Emma yells after him then sighs when she realizes it’s useless. “Sorry. He does that sometimes. Just charges in like he owns the place.”

“He’s more than welcome if he wants to be here,” Regina cordially smiles and looks over Emma’s attire. “You look…”

She fails to find a word that best describes the way Emma looks that also sounds appropriate out of a new friend’s mouth. Emma’s hair is curled like it was the first few months Emma came to live in Storybrooke and her dress is tight and short. The dark blue material stops mid-thigh and the neckline dips in a V-shape. Her arms are bared by the sleeves that don’t come past the rounded edges of her shoulders and Regina notices Emma’s been exercising a little more since they saw each other at the town line.

“Muy bonita,” Henry exclaims from the couch with an accent that needs improvement.

Emma and Regina look at him. Emma’s not pleased and Regina’s stifling a laugh but not a smile.

“He’s spent the last week learning and using a few phrases just to annoy me,” Emma informs her.

“It’s genius, really,” Regina says and looks back at Henry to see him grin bright and wide. “Muy bueno, Henry.”

“Gracias!”

Emma rolls her eyes.

“Great, soon you’ll be able to have secret conversations with my son and they’ll probably be about me.”

“The better to watch you squirm, my dear,” Regina teases like a line from the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.

“Damn. That might be hotter than the Spanish,” Emma says quietly enough that only Regina hears her.

Regina smirks and this part is easy. She likes to think that had Pan’s curse not made everything so difficult she would have eventually found herself in the same position with Emma. They would have shared Henry and a few jokes and if what she just did counts as flirting then maybe on some level she would have playfully flirted with Emma when the opportunity arose.

“Okay,” Emma breaks through the tension. “I’m gonna go meet my boyfriend for my date before I do something really stupid. You don’t mind watching him, right? He kind of just pushed you into this. I saw the texts.”

“Oh, no. It’s fine. I don’t mind at all and he’ll be in good hands.”

“Thank you. So much. Uh, here,” Emma says and fishes out a key. “It’s the spare to my place in case you need extra food or snacks or something while he’s here.”

“We’ll be fine, Emma,” Regina assures with a smile. “Go have a nice night.”

“Thanks. I owe you. Bye, Henry! Behave.”

“Uh huh,” Henry responds, detached, and puts his feet on the fancy, dark colored wooden edged coffee table with a glass center.

Regina watches Emma dash off to the elevator in her three inch black heels. Her ass looks incredible in the dress and when she jogs, Regina takes pleasure in the sight of it jiggling in time with her steps. It’s a pleasure she shouldn’t experience, but for some reason couldn’t ignore.

This time Emma looks back before she gets into the elevator and she smiles and waves at Regina before she slips into the elevator.

Regina closes the door with a fading smile and takes a moment to collect herself after that particular run in with the blonde. When she’s ready to handle Henry, she takes a deep breath and exhales before she moves away from the door. She looks over at the couch and sees Henry’s feet—shoes included—on the coffee table and an open bag of Twizzlers in his hand.

“What do you think you’re doing,” Regina asks as she approaches him.

“Uh, eating,” Henry asks like he’s not sure that’s the right answer.

Regina remembers this all too well and it’s a good thing, but it’s something that triggers the hurt she feels in connection with losing her son that day an entire year ago.

“It’s only seven. Have you even had dinner yet?”

“Nope.”

“Why don’t you leave the Twizzlers alone and let me make us something filling?”

“I guess that’d be okay.”

Henry closes the bag of Twizzlers and places it in the backpack he brought over. He zips it up and leaves it on the couch while he walks into the kitchen and stands beside Regina.

“You look like you want to help,” Regina notes with a smile.

“Can I?”

“I don’t know. Can you?”

Henry laughs and once Regina explains what she’s doing, the two of them work well together to make Regina’s specialty: lasagna.

Before she puts the dish in the oven, Regina sprinkles her not so secret ingredient over the uncooked food.

“Red pepper flakes?”

They’ve had this conversation before of course, but Henry doesn’t remember. She does and it tugs at her heart because it’s like she gets a do-over with him. But he doesn’t love her and he’s not technically her son anymore, not in his mind at least, but always in hers.

“I find it gives the lasagna some kick. I think you’ll like it.”

Once it’s done, Regina pulls the pan out of the oven and sets it down on the kitchen island. Henry stares at it with a watering mouth and longing. Regina knowingly smirks, and Henry does indeed like it. She knew he would. He liked it the first time she fed it to him and he defended it against every other lasagna every time after. He doesn’t talk much while he eats, but Regina suspected that would be the case too.

When they clean up together, Henry finally speaks up now that he’s satisfied his hunger.

“That lasagna was awesome. Thanks, Regina.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

“So, you really get to my mom,” Henry comes out with it.

Regina frowns.

“In a good way,” Henry adds. “It’s not just about the Spanish either.”

“But…she has a boyfriend. And I’m a woman.”

Henry laughs, but Regina doesn’t understand what’s funny.

“She might not have the best relationships with women and compared to the number of guys she’s dated it’s not very convincing, but she _does_ like and date them.”

That’s something Regina didn’t know. Her eyebrows shoot into her hairline and she has no verbal response to that news.

“She didn’t want you to watch me because she doesn’t want to dump me on you. You guys barely know each other and I think she doesn’t want to ruin whatever friendship she might have with you.”

“Well, I don’t think she has anything to worry about. She’s not dumping you on me and she gets to me too. In a good way.”

She grins and winks at him and Henry chuckles.

“Will you teach me some Spanish,” he asks.

“To tease your mother more?”

“Yeah, and because I like the language. It’s kind of…soothing. I don’t know. Plus, I’m working on this comic book type story and I don’t want all the characters to be white. I want diversity. So maybe one of the main characters knows Spanish. Maybe she’s Latina.”

“You’re working on a book?”

Henry nods and smiles.

“And one of your main characters is a woman? A woman you want to write as Latina?”

“Yeah. Is…that okay?”

“It’s great,” Regina says and flashes her teeth in a bright smile. “Although, if I’m going to teach you Spanish I’m going to help you work on your accent too, not just the words.”

“Okay,” Henry agrees, still smiling, and Regina starts teaching him basic phrases and sentences.

* * *

At nine o’clock there’s no word from Emma and Henry’s still in her apartment so she makes him hot cocoa and only adds the cinnamon when he asks her for it. She finds a Friends rerun on Nick @ Nite and lets Henry get comfortable on her couch, even gets him a fluffy, green blanket. At nine thirty he’s asleep, snoring lighting all curled up under the blanket with his chin tucked against his shoulder.

She texts Emma, asks when she can expect her, and after six minutes the other woman replies.

_Sorry I’m so late. Give me another half hour?_

There’s no way Regina can say no so she responds with: **See you then**.

Thirty minutes pass and Regina’s curled up on the chair in the living room with a good book and a glass of red wine when there’s a knock on the door. She sets down the book on the end table next to her wine and smiles at the still sleeping Henry on the way to the door. She answers in a pair of slimming black sweatpants and a cardigan draped over a loose fitting shirt and Emma’s still dressed up, but her curls are a little flat and she seems disheveled in other aspects as well.

“Hey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take so long,” Emma says as soon as Regina sees her. “Nice glasses.”

“Oh,” Regina reaches up and pulls off her reading glasses, which she forgot to remove when she put down the book.

“You don’t have to take them off. You look good.”

“Thank you.”

Regina keeps the glasses off and slips them into a pocket in her cardigan while she steps aside and Emma walks in.

“I hope it wasn’t too much to leave him there this late.”

“Not at all. Are you…are you okay?”

“I just want to get back to the apartment, go to bed.”

“Emma, what’s going on?”

Emma quietly and humorlessly laughs and shakes her head.

“Am I that transparent?”

“I…I knew someone like you once. Very closed off and strong-willed. I became fairly good at being able to tell when something bothered her.”

Emma stands up straight and moves closer to Regina and away from the couch.

“Guess that means you know _me_ ,” Emma jokes. “Yeah, uh, I just…had a rough end of the night and needed to process it before I grabbed Henry.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Definitely not.”

“It might help.”

Emma sighs and fidgets in place.

“The last two weeks have been…difficult with Gavin. He’s been picking up more shifts, working longer hours and he’s part of a task force for a pretty tough case. He’s been moody because of it. This was our first date in a little over a week and things were fine at the restaurant, but—”

Emma cuts herself off.

“But,” Regina carefully asks her, encourages her to finish her retelling of events.

Emma nervously licks her lips and continues.

“But…after dinner we came back here and I was gonna end the date in the lobby and come get Henry. Gavin insisted on walking me up and he got me to my door with a few smooth words and lots of kisses.

“I told him I wasn’t gonna leave Henry here overnight because that’s not something you and I agreed on before I went out, but he kept saying it was fine and that Henry was fine.”

Emma stops again and she looks pissed and ready to cry at the same time.

“Did he try to force you into…” Regina looks over at Henry, who’s still asleep on the couch, and speaks quieter when she finishes, “into having sex with him?”

“A little, but I kept saying no and I pushed him away and once I did that he backed off. He was pissed and he dumped me. He wasn’t like this before. He’s always been so nice and sweet and never put any focus on the sexual part of our relationship. I mean, yeah, we slept together, but our relationship wasn’t all about the sex, you know?”

“I’m so sorry,” Regina says.

“Yeah, well, I guess the tougher things got at work the more stress relief he wanted and since I’m the girlfriend— _was_ the girlfriend—he came to me to get it.”

Emma looks so downtrodden and Regina wonders if Emma blames herself.

“He wasn’t always like that, though. That’s what you said. There’s no way you could have predicted his behavior.”

Regina immediately and instinctively pours Emma a glass of wine and comfortingly rubs the blonde’s back, knowing firsthand what it’s like to be pressured into sex whether the sex even happens or not. Regina’s there to listen, but Emma doesn’t share anymore. And that’s okay because she doesn’t need to. Regina knows Emma well enough given the few passing but very revealing conversations had in Neverland. She knows that Emma wants to be wanted and for a lot more than her body. She’s never been picked first or put first—not until Storybrooke, which she doesn’t currently have any knowledge of—so of course Emma being viewed and attempted to be used solely as a source for sexual and stress release is hard for the blonde when she thought she had a keeper.

After forty minutes of drinking and not talking, Regina guides Emma to her bed. She sits her down and tells her to get cozy and get some sleep.

“But if I’m in your bed and Henry’s on the couch, where will you sleep? This is a one bedroom, right?”

“It is. I can sleep in the chair or on the rug in the living room.”

“What? No. No, this is your place. I’ll just…wake Henry and walk down the hall.”

“You’re exhausted and you probably shouldn’t be alone right now. Henry’s deep asleep and I don’t trust that ex-boyfriend of yours to not come back drunk and angry after the bars close.”

“That…is definitely a possibility I didn’t consider.”

“Get some rest.”

“Wait. Regina, this is a queen size bed. There’s no reason we can’t share.”

“Emma,” Regina warns.

“I don’t want to put you out. You’ve been really nice to me and you watched Henry and you’re letting him sleep on your couch. Most people here wouldn’t bother.”

“Yes, well, I think we’ve established I’m not most people. I’m not even from here.”

“Right. Must be that Maine hospitality,” Emma smiles.

Regina smiles back.

Emma takes off her shoes, Regina lends her something to sleep in that isn’t a dress, and she quickly finds out that Emma’s apparently not the shy type. Emma strips right in front of Regina who respectfully looks away. Soon enough, Emma’s changed and back in Regina’s bed.

“I promise to keep my hands to myself,” Emma raises the hands in question in a motion of surrender while she lays back.

Regina rolls her eyes. Same old Emma. She gets in bed anyway and though she’s sure this is a bad idea, she settles under the covers and lets sleep overtake her.

* * *

In the morning, Regina finds out that Emma can’t actually keep her hands to herself like she promised last night. She’s not in a very compromising position and Emma’s hands aren’t anywhere that make Regina uncomfortable, but they aren’t on their own sides of the bed anymore.

Emma’s calf lays over Regina’s shin and her arm is loosely draped over Regina’s stomach. Her forehead rests against the rounded edge of Regina’s shoulder and top of her bicep. The blonde’s hand doesn’t even reach Regina’s other side, just rests slightly above Regina’s hip. That’s how Henry finds them when he walks in on them.

“Regina?”

“Good morning, Henry,” Regina groggily greets with a smile.

“I can’t believe we slept here,” Henry says and looks at Emma. “Are you two…?”

Regina’s eyes go to Emma then back to Henry.

“No. She came to pick you up, but she and I talked a little, it got late, we were both tired and you were on the couch so I let her stay here. There wasn’t anywhere else for either of us to go except the chair or the floor so we shared this space. Your mother’s idea, not mine.”

Henry smiled.

“Yeah, I bet it was. She’s a cuddler.”

“What?”

“Last time I came into her room after a nightmare or a bad day she clung to me.”

“ _Clung_ to you?”

“Like a koala bear,” Henry replies and nods. “She’s like that. Distant on the outside, but deep down if she’s comfortable with someone she’ll open up. She doesn’t always open up with her words either.”

“Good to know, though we’ve only known each other a short time so I don’t know how she could felt comfortable around me.”

“Maybe she just feels good about you, like she can trust you. I know that’s how I feel.”

Regina almost breaks down and cries, happy to hear such a thing, but she smiles instead.

“I’m glad you feel that way,” she says.

“Hey, other people in the room,” Emma grumbles, her eyes still closed. “It’s early so shhhh.”

“Uh, Mom? You’re in bed with our neighbor. It’s not too early.”

Emma’s eyes shoot open and she looks up at Regina before she looks at her position and her current hand placement. In an instant, she bolts upright.

“Uh, sorry,” Emma apologizes.

“It’s alright,” Regina soothingly assures. “No harm done.”

Emma smiles and her cheeks and chest turn red.

“I promise I’m not always like this.”

“Henry tells me otherwise,” Regina teases.

Emma glares at Henry with a slack jaw, though she still looks tired so it doesn’t have much of an intimidating effect.

“You sold me out,” Emma asks him.

“I want nothing to do with your lady drama,” Henry holds up his hands in surrender and spins around just before he exits the room.

“It appears you have ‘lady drama’ with me,” Regina smirks at Emma.

“Only if you don’t let me get away with this,” Emma says and grabs the pillow from behind herself.

Emma gently smacks the pillow against Regina’s face.

Regina gasps while Emma chuckles and after a moment, the brunette gives a verbal response.

“In what world would you think I—I mean, someone like me, would let you get away with that unpunished?”

Regina takes Emma’s pillow and bops her in the face with it.

Emma laughs a little louder.

They only stay in bed for another moment or two and then move out to the main room with Henry. Regina offers to make them breakfast and Emma argues that she’s been too kind and so, so helpful already. Regina insists and Henry backs her up because if her breakfast is as good as her lasagna he doesn’t want to miss out. He also says Emma won’t want to miss out either if that’s true. So they eat breakfast, share a few fun and few personal—but not sad or upsetting—stories and start the day off right.

Emma forgets to ask for her spare key back when she and Henry leave, but Regina doesn’t even remember she has it until she sees it on the counter where she left it last night. She doesn’t hurry to return it, but she does send a text to Emma to let the blonde know she has it. Emma tells her to hang on to it for a while and Regina continues to possess the key for the next month.

Every other weekend she watches Henry while Emma picks up an extra case and uses the weekends that Henry’s with Regina to collect information on her target then sometimes follows the bail jumper around for several hours. During the time in between, on week days mostly, Emma asks Regina over for dinner and on other nights Regina asks Emma and Henry over for a movie and some snacks or sometimes desserts.

Dinners at Emma’s doesn’t always mean Emma cooks because Henry vouches for Regina’s skills in the kitchen enough times and Emma sometimes burns the meal with just enough time for the brunette to salvage the evening with a simple but insanely delicious fix. Movies at Regina’s are always over by nine if it’s a weeknight, although sometimes they have movie nights on Fridays and Saturdays, whenever Emma gets back from work wherever it may have taken her that day. She comes for Henry and stays for the wine, the buttery popcorn, and maybe a little bit for Regina’s company.

Regina and Emma get a few pictures of a couple dinner nights and a couple of movie nights. Whoever gets a cute picture, usually involving Henry in them, sends it to the other so they both have proof of the moment. When Regina’s alone, she smiles and then kind of cries when she goes through the pictures. After she wipes away her tears, she convinces herself being with them, making these new memories, is better than staying in Storybrooke without them. If she takes the time to really think about it, and she does, Emma and Henry are so happy here. To find a way to make them remember her and everyone else back home, all the villains they have to fight and the rocky history between Emma and herself, would be torture for them. It’s why she cries lately.

At first it was because she sees Emma and Henry every day and they can’t see her for who she really is to them. Now she cries because as much as it kills her, she’s not sure she ever wants them to remember. Not if it will cause either of them, or even just one of them, pain.

In the tenth week she’s been in New York and spending time with Emma and Henry, she finally sends one of the several photos of biological mother and son to Snow. She’s been texting the woman about her nights with Henry and Emma, but she keeps it brief and now she’ll give the other woman what she’s been hoping for: a picture of both her daughter and grandson as further proof they’re well and happy. Snow replies with a question about how Regina’s progress with a memory potion is coming along and Regina answers: **Don’t have all the necessary ingredients**.

Truth is, Regina’s had all the right ingredients for the last week. She just hasn’t mixed the potion yet. She can have it ready by tomorrow if she wants, but the longer she stays and the closer she gets to Emma and Henry, the less need she feels she has for it.

It isn’t fair to Snow or Charming because while Regina gets to live a happy life with Emma and Henry, they have to stay and run the town. The more she thinks about what she has in New York with Emma and Henry, however, makes her want to forget about the potion and just make a new life for herself like she’d tried to by creating Storybrooke the first time. Maybe the third curse is the charm. She wasn’t happy during the first curse until she had Henry, and then Emma showed up and threatened to take it all away from her. The curse broke and things were dicey for a while, but then Neverland happened and, after they returned to Storybrooke, so did Pan’s curse. So she cast the reverse of the first curse and outran Pan’s, but she was miserable in the Enchanted Forest. Then they found a way to return to Storybrooke, recreate it using the same dark curse she had used the first time and after a few days she made it her mission to see her son again. The third curse gave her a chance to be with him in some way and now she’s there with them and she doesn’t want to say goodbye, but she doesn’t want them to remember either.

Emma and Henry are happy to be away from all the evil plots and schemes and it’s a normal life for them here in New York. They have each other and they make it work. Henry also has friends, which he never had before he started living with Emma away from the small town in Maine. It’s a slippery slope and she knows she’s taking away Snow and Charming’s chance at a complete happy ending, but technically she’s just being her usual selfish self again. The thing is, Regina’s not keeping Emma and Henry from Storybrooke because it will devastate the couple expecting their second child. She’s keeping them away from Storybrooke for their benefit. It’s because she’s willing to give up magic to stay in a land without any and willing to sacrifice Henry’s love for her as his mother just to be with them when no one else can that makes her motives a little self-serving.

She finds she doesn’t care. She likes what she has and for now, she’ll enjoy it because she’s not sure when or if she’ll ever leave it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to give this a rating bump to M for a scene in here that really isn't as descriptive as I could have made it, but isn't quite T rated either. Here's the final chapter. It's been fun to write this and share it all with all of you.

_Open up_.

Two words. That’s all Regina gets in a text message from Emma as a preamble to the blonde’s arrival.

It’s just after eight, the lights of the city the only source of light outside while a crescent moon hides behind clouds and pollution in the sky above the populated area. Regina hasn’t heard from Emma all day and at that point in her evening, she’s already dressed down for sleep and wrapped up in the blanket she’d previous lent Henry when he’d slept on her couch. She’s been in front of the TV for the last forty minutes and she can’t imagine why Emma greets her at the door with an energetic looking smile and a paper bag that crinkles and pokes out in places like there’s one too many things inside.

“Hey,” Emma says and walks inside without an invitation. “I brought wine, cheese, some stronger alcohol because wine doesn’t always do it for me, lots of chocolate, and a couple of great movies.”

“Did we have plans,” Regina asks with a furrowed brow, completely thrown off and confused by the other woman.

Emma makes it sound like this was a girls’ night in they’ve discussed on at least one occasion before, but Regina doesn’t remember it ever having come up.

“No, but I figured we were due to a night to ourselves,” Emma answers. “Henry’s at a sleepover so I’m alone and I’ve never heard you talk about any of your other friends so I figured it was a safe bet you were alone tonight too.”

“Nice,” Regina sarcastically replies.

“I didn’t mean to offend you. Relax, Regina. It was just wishful thinking on my part. I really didn’t want to be the only one not doing anything tonight and it would’ve sucked if my best friend already had other plans while I moped around with nothing to do.”

Regina’s eyes widen the slightest bit at the title. She knows they’re friends, knows Emma’s her only friend, but she’s never heard Emma refer to her as her best friend. Not until that moment.

“Then by all means,” Regina motions to the main area of the apartment Emma’s already made herself comfortable in for the night.

Emma sets the bag down on the coffee table and takes out the movies. She quickly looks through her small selection and comes to a decision then sets the others down and puts the chosen disc in Regina’s DVD player like she lives there.

They’ve known each other a while now and Emma’s spent plenty of nights at Regina’s place with Henry watching movies. So it makes sense that she’s so familiar with Regina’s space, but the brunette can never get over how nice it feels when she witnesses it. Truthfully, Regina’s never had anyone other than Henry move around her place with ease. Before New York, she’s never really let anyone past the threshold unless it was important or a manipulation tactic to let someone in just before she got, or attempted to get, rid of them.

“If you don’t like any of these, we can always watch Netflix,” Emma says. “I just want you to know you have a choice. I’m not just, like, forcing my favorites on you.”

Emma smiles at her and Regina almost laughs at how Emma cares a little too much about the smallest of choices the woman can give her in their friendship. During one of their latest movie nights, when Henry was also a guest, Emma had insisted Regina try her twist on hot cocoa but made sure Regina knew she didn’t  really have to even though Emma’s exact words were: “You have to try it. I’m telling you.” She was so sweet and considerate and Regina just knew that if Emma ever did remember her, she’d also remember all the choices she’d given her during their time in New York. She’d remember how careful and kind she’d been to the once Evil Queen and how it might have been just a little too much, a little too nice for someone who’s tried to kill her and her family. But she tries not to weigh herself down with thoughts like that, because Emma’s here and she doesn’t remember anything except the beautiful progress they’ve made in recent months to get to a point where Regina can call the blonde a friend and not hate that she actually likes her former enemy Snow White’s spawn.

“I’m sure whatever you’ve brought over will be fine,” Regina assures and brings a corkscrew and two wine glasses into the living room with her before she sits down next to Emma on the couch.

Emma picks up the green blanket Regina left there when she went to get the door and smiles as she looks first at the blanket itself and then directs her eyes upward to make contact with Regina’s.

“Sharing is caring,” Emma says.

Regina rolls her eyes.

“Please. With how often you’re over, this is starting to feel like a common law marriage and half of everything I own is already yours.”

Emma chuckles and drapes the blanket over both of them while the DVD menu plays. She tucks her legs under herself, Regina keeps her feet rooted on the floor, and then she leans forward and takes the remote from the coffee table to press play.

The movie starts and Emma hands Regina the bottle of wine, which she carefully opens with the corkscrew from her spot on the couch beneath the warm blanket.

Regina pours them both a glass and hands one to Emma while the blonde’s eyes focus on the movie. She sits back with her own drink after Emma accepts her glass and for a while they both enjoy the movie and their wine in comfortable silence that’s occasionally filled by little laughs at something that happens on the screen.

After almost two glasses of wine for each of them and a movie and half later, Regina’s feet are still on the floor, but Emma’s legs are no longer tucked under herself. The blonde’s position has changed a few times since they first sat down, but now Emma’s legs are folded in front of her with her feet off to her side while her knees gently rest on half of Regina’s lap under the blanket. Emma leans against Regina’s side and one of her fists is closed around Regina’s lounge shirt between her chest and hip. Her hair tickles Regina’s neck and collarbone as she has her head nuzzled in the crook of the older woman’s neck.

Regina tries not to stiffen beneath Emma because she doesn’t want the other woman to ask her why she seems tense, because Emma would indeed do that, but she’s utterly unprepared for the way the blonde leans on her. She’s never been this close to someone—not including their son, but that’s different. No, she’s never cuddled with anyone since Daniel, and even then she had been in Emma’s position while Daniel sat back against the tree they met at when they were able to get away from the stable. He’d stroke her hair and rub her back and they’d talk about their plans for the future or they’d sometimes share about their pasts. He’d compliment her riding from her earlier lesson that day and she’d say it was all because of her cute and very helpful instructor.

With Emma, everything’s different and much more complicated yet not so complicated all at the same time. She’s Henry’s other mother and the Savior and Snow White’s daughter so it’s all very complex and nothing about them being together would ever be easy. But here, on the couch, in her apartment in New York, she’s Emma’s neighbor and best friend and the woman who’s good with Henry whom Henry likes way more than anyone else Emma’s ever welcomed into their lives. So everything can just fall into place and be that simple.

When Regina thinks she’s momentarily stopped breathing while she’s been trying not to tense up, she exhales and then Emma squirms against her side, and it feels good, so good. She doesn’t hesitate, leaves herself no time to second guess her actions, and moves instinctually as she lays her head on top of Emma’s while the blonde’s still rests in the crook of her neck. She thinks she hears Emma hum with content, but maybe it’s her that hums or maybe it’s in her head. She never finds out because she’s too distracted by Emma’s roaming hand.

Emma’s hand releases Regina’s shirt and glides across her torso. The touch is enough to cause Regina’s muscles to ripple like still water disturbed by a pebble or a strong wind. She knows Emma feels her reaction because it’s an extremely noticeable reaction and Emma’s hand moves with her as it happens. Emma’s hand as it crosses from one side of her torso to the other feels like a handful of butterflies excitedly fluttering this way and that inside her stomach, and now it’s Regina’s turn to squirm because she’s almost too sensitive to the touch.

“Are you okay,” Emma asks and lifts her head from Regina’s shoulder.

Regina tries to take a deep breath and calm herself, but she’s still reeling from the effects of Emma’s devious hand.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Regina lies with a slightly raspy voice.

Emma seems to accept the answer and lowers her head back down onto Regina’s shoulder. A moment later, her hand drops to Regina’s hip and it’s all Regina can do not to let a soft and stifled whimper escape.

Her back arches, however, so it complete gives her away that Emma’s piqued her libido’s interest.

“Are you sure you’re okay,” Emma asks, but doesn’t lift her head a second time.

Apparently, the effect Emma has on Regina is accidental because Emma doesn’t move her hand again and there’s no teasing in her tone or words.

 _She’s cuddler_ , Regina reminds herself. _This is just how she is when she’s comfortable with someone._

Comfortable is far from what Regina feels, however. She’s aroused and kind of nervous and she doesn’t know what it all means. She likes Emma, sure, but she didn’t think she’s grown to like the blonde to the point of a physical response.

Thankfully she doesn’t have to give it any further thought past that point because Emma’s hand stays put and Regina eventually gets use to its placement. She’s able to relax, so much so that she falls asleep in that exact position before the third movie ends.

_“Te extraño,” Regina purrs with need and an emotion that goes much deeper than lust._

_Emma stands before her in only a tank top and her lacy underwear. She licks her lips in response to Regina’s words and though Regina knows she doesn’t know what they mean, Emma looks at her in a way that makes Regina throw caution to wind, her words as important as what time it is or what’s happening beyond the apartment walls, which is to say they aren’t important at all right now._

_Regina grabs Emma by the waist and pulls her in, kisses her with everything she has and feels a rush of warmth between her legs when Emma almost immediately moans into her mouth. She presses her body flat against Emma’s and pleasurably sighs into their next kiss as she curls her fists into Emma’s tank. She tugs at the material and holds Emma as close to her as she can before she turns them and starts to back Emma up in the direction of the bed._

_Emma’s hands run through Regina’s hair before one of them travels down and cups the back of her neck. The other hand slides down even further and unbuttons Regina’s pants. She lets go of Regina’s neck to use both hands when she pushes down Regina’s pants. She exposes black lace and Regina steps out of her pants so she and Emma have an equal amount of skin revealed._

_The back of Emma’s knees hit the edge of the bed and the blonde almost falls backward, but Regina pulls her closer for a moment then peels off Emma’s tank top. She breaks their kiss to get the tank over Emma’s head and doesn’t go in for another kiss once the garment is fully removed. Instead, she removes her own top while Emma watches with hungry eyes. Once her top joins Emma’s on the floor, Regina gently shoves Emma backward._

_Emma falls onto the bed and bounces a little after impact then smiles up at Regina while the brunette grins down at her and crawls up the younger woman’s body. Their lips meet in slow and steamy kiss that makes both women wonder why they’d never tried this before, why they’d stayed angry at each other for so long when they could have been doing this, doing this a lot of different ways for a lot of different reasons._

_“Regina,” Emma half-breathes out, half-moans when the brunette pulls back from the kiss so she can give the other woman’s neck some attention._

_Regina almost has an orgasm solely from the sound of her name coming from Emma’s mouth. Emma’s said her name plenty of times before, but when she says it this time and every time after, she says it like she knows Regina, really knows her. Because she does know her, she remembers her. Emma remembers everything and she’s still here, still beneath her on the bed, and wants to keep going._

_She stops at Emma’s plump, bra-encased breasts and smirks before she places a kiss on the rounded flesh of each one then slides her hands under Emma and unhooks the clasp. She throws the bra aside without a care as to where it lands and puts all of her attention on the freed breasts and hardened, rosy nipples right in front of her._

_Emma’s legs spread a little wider as Regina sucks a nipple into her mouth. Regina’s stomach is already pressed up against the woman’s underwear and the mouth on Emma’s breast causes the younger woman to buck her hips. Her covered center presses firmly and grinds against Regina’s torso and Regina feels how damp the material is that remains between them._

_Emma feels good against her, so good. Regina doesn’t want to stop, doesn’t ever want to stop. She revels in every sound Emma makes, moans every time Emma says her name in the one way Regina’s been most desperate to hear her say it for months now. It’s all coming together, they’re coming together in more ways than one, and Regina’s happy._

_She looks at Emma again as her hands start to wander down, down to places Emma makes certain Regina knows she wants her to be, and she smiles. She smiles and sees the happiness she feels matched in Emma’s gaze, feels the familiarity between them that she’s missed longer than she’s been in New York._

_“Te extraño,” Regina repeats as she leans in closer with a hand between them almost exactly where Emma wants it, needs it. She kisses Emma as her fingers set a steady pace below, and kisses her again and again and continues to say, “Te extraño” between each one so Emma knows._

“Te extraño.”

Regina breathes in and smells a familiar yet unfamiliar shampoo. She’s smelled it before, but she knows it’s not hers. When she opens her eyes, she sees that it’s a new day and that she slept on the couch in a seated position. Her cheek rests on Emma’s head, which is on her shoulder and starting to move so she lifts off the other woman.

“What’s that mean,” Emma groggily asks as she starts to shift and sit up.

Emma stretches and yawns then rubs her eyes before she looks expectantly at Regina for an answer she still hasn’t received.

“What does what mean,” Regina asks as it sets in that she wasn’t the only one to fall asleep on the couch last night.

“Te extraño,” Emma replies with an accent that isn’t as bad as Henry’s was at first, but still doesn’t have quite the right sound to it.

“Oh.”

Did she actually say it out loud? If she did, what else about her dream has she accidentally let slip?

“It means ‘I’ve missed you,’” Regina says, her gaze directed at the coffee table so she doesn’t have to look at Emma when she says it. “Where did you hear it?”

 “From you. Just now. You kept mumbling it in your sleep.”

“Did I say anything else?”

Emma shakes her head and Regina’s relieved.

“Who do you miss,” Emma asks as she stays close, too close, to Regina on the couch.

Regina can’t tell her the truth. She doesn’t even know a variation of the truth to tell her at this point. She’s missed Emma. That much was clear from the way she looked at dream-Emma when she’d said those words in the fantasy realm of her mind, but she couldn’t tell that to real-Emma. Real-Emma doesn’t know they’ve known each other beyond the months they’ve spent together in the city. Real-Emma doesn’t know Regina’s attracted to her. Real-Emma isn’t really real at all and Regina gets it now. She thought she understood what Emma meant at the town line about her and Henry’s lives not being real with fake memories. And she did understand it back then, still does understand it, but now she gets that everything she’s been through with Emma and Henry since her return from the Enchanted Forest has happened, but it won’t be entirely real until they know the entire truth.

And then Regina finally answers Emma’s question with a form of the truth, which is the exact opposite of what she should do if she wants any of this, any of what she now has with Emma and Henry, to mean to them as much as it means to her.

“My son,” is Regina’s form of the truth.

“Oh, right,” Emma nods. “How is he? I mean, have you talked to him at all since you’ve been here?”

Regina nods, and smiles because Emma’s treading carefully. It’s a sensitive subject, or at least it would be if Regina didn’t get to see her son most days of the week, but she sees him and talks to him and bonds with him all over again like he’s only a baby and she just wants to know what he wants from her that will get him to stop crying.

“I have,” Regina replies. “He’s doing really well, actually.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Uh, I’m sure…I’m sure he misses you too,” Emma says, and it comes out awkwardly enough that Regina thinks Emma’s not sure how to approach the subject with her since Emma still has her son.

“Thank you,” Regina continues to smile at her and even risks certain emotions bubbling up on the surface just to touch Emma’s knee to show she’s sincere.

Emma smiles at Regina so brightly it reminds Regina of the way a puppy wags its tail when it’s happy or excited. It’s cute, so cute, and Regina knows with absolute certainty it’s not just attraction she feels for Emma. It can’t only be attraction.

Emma’s phone rings and she goes to get it.

“It’s Henry,” Emma tells her before she answers. “Hey, Kid. You ready? Yeah, I’ll be on my way soon.”

When Emma hangs up, the smile she gives Regina looks more like a mischievous smirk.

“You want to come with me to get Henry from his sleepover? He and I are gonna grab some breakfast at our favorite place.”

Regina pushes down her feelings for a moment, because Emma’s made it so easy for her to say what she says next.

“I thought my place was your favorite place,” she teases.

Emma chuckles and extends a hand to Regina, helps her off the couch.

“Okay, our _second_ favorite place,” Emma corrects.

* * *

“You should come inside,” Henry suggests when they all stand outside of Emma’s door after breakfast. “I want to show you my book.”

Regina looks surprised.

“Your book?”

“Yeah,” Emma smiles as she unlocks the door. “Kid’s a sketch artist with a good book series on his hands.”

“You know about it,” Henry reminds Regina. “The one with the main character that speaks Spanish? Oh, but…uh, it’s not really finished.”

Henry looks away from Regina to direct his next words at Emma. “A few more details came to me last night.”

“Really? That’s great. What details,” Emma asks.

“I think I figured out how the queen should look.”

“There’s a queen,” Regina asks, unsure of just what Henry’s been writing since they parted last year.

“Yeah,” Henry says and dashes off to his room then returns with his sketch book and a pencil.

He sits down at the kitchen table and opens the book up to a specific page then starts to add to the scene.

Emma goes past the table, into the kitchen and starts to make them all drinks while Regina approaches the table and looks over Henry’s shoulder. The page he’s adjusting has a picture of a scene Regina remembers all too well and she gasps at the sight of her goodbye to Emma and Henry at the town line.

“You okay,” Emma asks with a frown and stops what she’s doing to focus on Regina.

“Y-yes. I just…I didn’t realize how talented Henry is,” Regina says and fakes a smile.

Emma stares at her for another moment before she says, “Okay” and goes back to making them coffee and making Henry a cup of hot cocoa.

Regina slowly sits down beside Henry and watches him work. He’s driven and focused as he draws out the missing features from the queen’s face, features Regina recognizes as her own. After a few minutes he has a rough sketch of Regina’s face as she looks sadly yet somewhat hopefully at a mother and son that look remarkably like him and Emma. He has everyone’s face and placement on the paved road out of town almost exactly right, but he can’t remember all of that because he still looks and talks to her like he doesn’t know any of it actually happened.

He knows more than he thinks he does and Regina is amazed and curious and she wonders if she might have accidentally implanted the faintest idea of herself into Emma and Henry’s new memories.

Emma brings Henry his cocoa and before she can go back for the coffee that Regina can hear brewing in the background, the blonde looks over what Henry’s come up with.

“You know, she looks a lot like Regina,” Emma comments on the drawing. “Did you dream about her last night?”

“Yeah, she was in every one of the moments I’ve been dreaming of since I started this thing. They all kind of flashed through my dream like a flip book with the animations drawn out frame by frame in the corners of, like, a pad of sticky notes or something.”

“You sure you aren’t just imagining her in the place of the queen because we’ve been hanging out with her a lot?”

“I’m sure. Last night’s dream felt as real as all the other ones. She fits.”

Emma smiles at Henry then looks over the top of his head at Regina and shares that smile with her.

Regina’s in an odd haze. She’s happy he somewhat remembers her in his own way, but doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. She gives Emma a smile that isn’t entirely faked, but isn’t entirely certain either.

Emma’s satisfied enough with her nonverbal response that she leaves Regina with Henry and heads back into kitchen.

Regina watches Henry shade in a few shadowy areas before he flips back a few pages and draws the same new features on the faceless queen of a previous sketch. She gives herself a moment before she finds a safe question to ask that may give her the answer as to whether or not what he does but doesn’t really remember is a good thing.

“I see there’s a boy in all these pictures. He looks like you,” Regina says. “Do you just see yourself in his place or are you actually him?”

Henry scrunches up his face and thinks about it.

“Well, when I have these dreams, they all feel real. They’re more like…memories and not dreams. And when I dream, I see him and he’s me so…I guess it’s me? But I know I can’t be him because I don’t have two moms.”

Regina cringes. Well that hurt.

“I wish I could be him, though,” Henry adds.

Regina relaxes a little.

“Why do you wish that?”

“Because he’s got all these people around him and they all love him. I know my mom loves me and I like our little family, but…this kid has a huge family. It’s like everyone he knows is related to him. It’s crazy, but… I don’t know. Wouldn’t you want to be surrounded by so much love you don’t know how you got so lucky to have so many people in your life that care that much about you?”

 _More than you know_ , Regina thinks.

“And I know Mom loves me more than anything and I love her too,” Henry continues, “but all my friends have two parents, divorced or not, and they usually have aunts and uncles and grandparents. Mom and I only have each other, which is fine, but it’s kind of lonely sometimes.”

“Oh, Henry, I think you underestimate just how many people care about you in this world,” Regina says as she reaches out and cups one side of his face while she strokes his cheek with her thumb.

It’s an affectionate and motherly gesture that came out from years of soothing him and for a second, she almost freezes and thinks to retract her hand. But Henry just smiles at her and subtly moves into her touch and she thinks he doesn’t mind it, he’s known her long enough now to be okay with this type of affection from her.

Emma’s glowing as she carries two mugs of coffee to the table, beaming as she looks right at Regina, and Regina’s not sure what to make of it other than she likes it. She likes how Emma’s looking at her in that moment and maybe she doesn’t need them to remember. Maybe this would be enough.

“Big families are overrated,” Emma says, and now Regina remembers.

Regina remembers that Emma’s never had anyone but herself and then, after eighteen years of waiting, Henry in the life Regina’s given them in New York.

“They can be a pain in the ass, always fighting or criticizing each other,” Emma adds as she sits down next to Regina and sets a mug in front of the brunette. “The more people there are in your family, the more people there are to let you down. Why would want all of that when what we have now is really good?”

Emma smiles at Regina again when she finishes the question, like it’s her subtle way of letting Regina know she counts as part of her tiny family with Henry now.

“They don’t always let you down,” Henry argues. “And even if they screw up, sometimes they fix it. They can get better.”

“Are you saying I’m not enough for you,” Emma asks, though she’s not upset. She’s only curious.

“No, you’re enough,” he replies. “Sometimes though, especially recently, it just…it kind of feels like there’s something missing.”

“Gee, thanks, Kid.”

“No, not like that. I just mean…maybe our family has room to grow. Maybe it’s not just supposed to be you and me against the world.”

Regina’s heart skips a beat.

“Well,” Emma throws an arm around Regina’s shoulder, “maybe our family’s already grown.”

Henry’s eyes widen.

“Seriously? Are you two really dating now?”

“Not dating,” Emma says, still smiling with her arm around Regina. “But she’s close enough to us to be family, right?”

Henry narrows his eyes and studies the two of them.

“So she’s family, but she’s not your girlfriend.”

“Hey now, she’s a girl and she’s my friend so she is—”

“Whatever,” Henry cuts her off and she chuckles. “Are you ever gonna date each other?”

“Do you think we should,” Regina asks, suddenly desperate to know what’s going on in his head.

“I think the only reason you’re not living with us yet is because you live right down the hall,” Henry honestly says.

Emma laughs again, louder, and pulls Regina just a little bit closer.

Regina’s expression is an open and readable display of shock and internal debate.

“It doesn’t matter if you ever date her though,” Henry tells Regina, and Regina gets out of her head. “I still agree with her that our family’s already grown. Because you’re family now.”

Everything inside her screams with delight. She smiles and she wants to cry, but holds it in because she can’t cry. That would be too emotional of a response. It’s been a year, a very long and painful year without them, without belonging because everything she belonged to and belonged with was in New York. And now she’s spent the last several months learning to be happy instead of hurt and angry and hell-bent on finding a way out of the land she’d once called home, before Henry, before Emma, before she realized her father’s forced sacrifice wasn’t all for nothing after all. She’s spent the last several months becoming Emma and Henry’s family all over again.

It’s not “our son” and “our magic” and “our best chance is together”, but it feels just as powerful. In this world, in this city, in which Emma and Henry don’t remember all that she does, it’s just as powerful in its own right.

It’s then she sees, she _knows_ , what needs to be done. They _are_ family and she’s more certain than she’s ever been that she loves them. _Them_. And they have more family to welcome back into their lives and their hearts. Henry wants it, thinks it’s how things are supposed to be and he’s right. That’s exactly how it should be, as crazy as it all is.

He’s sketched out every last detail of a life he doesn’t know he used to know. And Emma’s still so cynical about families and having other people in her life because she doesn’t remember a life she used to know with parents and a reformed villain as her co-parent and a son that brought her to an all but fictional town and made her believe in fairy tales and happy endings.

They need to remember. As much as it may hurt both Emma and Henry to remember that Emma hadn’t always kept him, they need to remember. All the pain of being given up and all of the insane villain chases and portal jumping, they need to remember. Life is made up of good and bad moments. Without the bad, how can you ever truly appreciate the good?  And while their life in New York is dream come true, a fairy tale, a happy ending, it’s only a small piece of the puzzle. It’s a puzzle that will never be complete if Regina doesn’t return what’s rightfully theirs.

She doesn’t want the dream to end, doesn’t want her own happiness to end, but it isn’t fair to keep them away from all the other people back home that love and miss them. Just because Regina thinks Snow and David are having another baby that give them a do-over after Regina screwed with their first chance at parenthood, she’s recently been screwing with Emma’s second chance at having parents.

 _Love isn’t selfish_ , Regina thinks.

“Regina? Oh god, are you okay?”

Regina blinks and Emma’s arm isn’t around her anymore, but the blonde looks at her with deep concern. She blinks again and she feels something leave a trail down her cheek. Emma’s concerned because she’s crying and as far as Emma and Henry know they haven’t said or done anything that could possibly bring about tears.

“What’s wrong,” Emma asks and wipes one of Regina’s tears with the pad of her thumb.

“I’m sorry,” Regina says. “This might be too forward right now, but if I don’t do this before… If don’t do this now, I might lose my only chance.”

Emma’s more confused now than she was about Regina’s tears and that’s the last thing Regina sees before she closes her eyes and kisses her.

There’s a surge of magic and a flash of light she only sees from behind her eyelids and one of them gasps, or maybe all of them do. When Regina opens her eyes, she doesn’t know what to expect, but she she’s ready to come up with a lame excuse to get out of there and then return later with the memory potion. When she looks at Emma, though, she knows instantly that she doesn’t need it anymore.

“Regina,” she says, and she says in that way, that special, special way.

“You remember,” Regina breathes out.

Emma just stares at her with her mouth wide open. Regina thinks for a moment that Emma remembers and that means it’s all over. They’ll go back to Storybrooke and the way things were before and her happy ending will forever be in a part of New York that stopped existing the moment she kissed Emma Swan.

“Mom!” She hears Henry yell her name so, so close to her ear only half a second before he crushes her in a hug from behind her where he’d once been sitting and now stands so he can wrap his arms around her shoulders and nuzzle his nose into her neck.

“Henry,” Regina warmly says with a smile, and a few more tears fall as she places her hands over his arms.

“Wait,” he says when they pull apart and then he walks around Regina’s chair so he stands between his mothers. “Was that…? Did you just…? I remember. But we’re not supposed to remember and then you kissed…”

Henry looks at Emma and she’s still in shock.

“Emma,” Regina carefully says her name like a question.

“What… I… You…” is Emma’s response.

“Okay,” Regina slowly says as she makes a decision. “I’ll talk first.”

Emma just tries not to stop breathing after being so overwhelmed.

“Over the last several months, as difficult as it was just to be a neighbor and friend to both of you, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. I…I was supposed to come here and see if there was any way I could get you to come back to Storybrooke without simply forcing a memory potion on you the second I could finish one.

“After some time, I started to think maybe I could just stay here, with both of you, but then Snow kept asking about you and I knew I had to figure something else out. I didn’t… I knew that I was growing to like you, Emma, but I didn’t know… How could I know?”

“Is it true,” Emma slowly asks once she’s less catatonic. “Was that kiss…? It’s true, isn’t it?”

Suddenly, it’s like they’re back in that hospital supply closet and Emma’s questioning the validity of Henry’s tall tales about curses and an Evil Queen while she pins Regina to the wall until she gets an answer.

“Yes,” Regina confesses.

Emma’s shoulders sag from their previously tense position and she exhales. It almost looks like relief, but Regina can’t be sure.

Not until Emma leaves her seat, leans forward, and crashes her lips against Regina’s. Their first kiss was a peck, a chaste expression of what Regina felt in that moment, and only ended so quickly because of the magic that burst forth from the contact. Their second kiss, this kiss, isn’t as chaste or as quick. In this kiss, she doesn’t feel the burst of magic, but she feels the emotions that spurred that magic on in the first place. This kiss is the kind of kiss that should be able to transcend realms and break any curse.

When they separate, Emma rests her forehead against Regina’s and they each take a moment to breathe. They hear a chuckle and both women turn to see Henry with a phone in his hand with the small lens near the top directed right at them.

“I finally have the final scene of my story,” he says. “You were right Mom, the Queen and the Savior are in love.”

Emma rolls her eyes and Regina laughs.

“You knew before I did,” Regina asks Emma. “I find that very hard to believe.”

“I guess it was easier to see from a kind of object person point of view,” Emma says and pulls Regina up so they’re both standing before she shuts the brunette up with another kiss.

Before things can even get the slightest bit closer to PG-13, Regina’s phone rings and they break apart.

“Thank god,” Henry says. “I thought I was gonna have to leave the room soon.”

That time Emma laughs while Regina rolls her eyes before she answers the call, but doesn’t check the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“You did it,” Snow says on the other end.

“What?”

“They remember, don’t they,” Snow asks, but it sounds like a statement.

“How do you know that?”

“Who is it,” Emma asks.

“We felt it. The power of True Love’s Kiss,” Snow tells Regina.

“You _felt_ it,” Regina asks a little louder than intended. “All the way through the cloak over the town?”

“Yes.”

“Regina, who is it,” Emma asks again.

“Your mother,” Regina finally answers her.

“Is that Emma? Can I talk to her?”

Regina sighs and hands Emma the phone.

“She’s been dying to talk to you from the day I got your number at the park,” Regina says as Emma takes the phone.

Emma smiles, and that smile is what assures Regina she’s done the right thing.

Henry calls her Mom again and she leaves Emma to the phone call while he hugs her and tells her he loves her. And that hug paired with those words, words he means and understands why he wants to say them before he then says them, is what assures Regina she hasn’t lost her happy ending.

“Are you gonna date her _now_ ,” Henry asks as they pull out of their hug, and she wraps an arm around his shoulders and laughs.

“If she still wants me around,” Regina replies while she looks at Emma as the blonde continues to talk to her mother.

Emma catches Regina’s gaze and there’s a glimmer in her eyes as she smiles at the brunette again. Not only does she remember, but she’s still happy. Remembering hasn’t ruined anything for her, hasn’t ruined anything for Henry either.

As she holds Henry close and looks at Emma with a smile to match the Emma’s, Regina knows this isn’t the end. It’s only just the beginning. Her happy ending in progress.


End file.
